


Who needs a soul, anyway?

by BoatsNHoes



Series: Selling Your Soul (and other ways to get out of debt) [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Be gentle, Blood, Blood Pacts, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, Rated explicit for later planned chapters, Trans Karkat, Violence, also a background character for the most part tho, background cronkri, death mentions in general, demon summoning shenanigans, demonstuck sorta, family death mention, he'll get his own fic in this au eventually, nothing really graphic at this point, stripper kankri is also a thing in this, this is a baby au, will add tags as things come up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-15 15:52:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9242816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoatsNHoes/pseuds/BoatsNHoes
Summary: Your name is Karkat Vantas and you'll do whatever it takes to keep what little remains of your family from suffering any further. At your own expense, of course. What other way is there to do things?





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this baby au! It started out as stripper kankri with heavy cronkri, and then budded this monster... Which we're posting before the actual idea that brought the au about. That will get it's own fic though! hopefully... Demonstuck is fun though. But I'm sure if enough people are interested in the cronkri we'll get around to it, let us know in the comments ;D. Lots of heavy stuff planned for this fic, so be careful folks! Gonna try to keep up with the tags as we go but we honestly have no idea what might come up in the future.

Your name is Karkat Vantas and you don’t think you’re going to survive, not on your own at least. And your brother… he’s been coming home covered in glitter, smelling like sex, and looking exhausted. You’re pretty sure you know why.

The debt has been piling up, and you have to do something about it. He’s- you can’t let this happen, you either have to speed things along and get out of his hair fast or… Rose showed you this book that she had found in some dusty old antique shop. It’s some kind of occult bullshit so.. You might as well start there because you don’t want to die, it would destroy Kankri.

You flip through the book, a lot of it looks like fancily worded bullshit to make you slice up your hand and speak latin. But… there’s a passage about summoning a demon to bring you fortune. Well, it says to summon the demon of time and fortune, but that’s a minor detail. Once you've read through the passage, it sounds exactly like what you need. Time... and money. Maybe you can ask for this debt to go away, time is money right? This is your one. Selling your soul seems like your best option here. You manage to sneak all of the supplies up onto the roof of the shitty apartment that Kankri can barely afford for you and start to draw the circle, it’s gear shaped which is probably for the whole time thing? But… you don’t understand some of the instructions, oh well. It’ll work out, right? You finish the circle and start to say the words. Jesus Christ, you hate Latin but you manage to get out the words and…. Nothing happens? Oh shit, right. The offerings, blood, food - you hope he’ll accept hot pockets- and something personal of yours.

“Please...Please work”

You sit there for a while and… nothing. Fucking nothing. You should have known better than to-

“Heeyy, hot pockets? Huh, you even heated them up. More considerate than some of these assholes, they think it’s symbolism or something” …. There he is. Standing inside the circle, bending to pick up a hot pocket and taking a bite. 

His eyes are this flashing sort of red that makes his skin look like porcelain. You just fucking stare, pulling your sweater tighter around you, “You.. You’re the demon.”

“Yeah, that’s what I am,” he raises his eyebrow, continues to the personal object. Your dad’s old T-shirt. It stopped smelling like him a long time ago, but it’s still comfortable and really the only thing you have left of him. Your demon picks it up, turns it over in his hands and brings it to his face with a deep inhale, “Oooh… there’s some hurt there, huh? Dead parent?” he chuckles

You frown, “Yeah. So how the hell do we do this? You rip my soul out? You- You slit my wrists? What?”

“Well first you tell me what you want,” he snorts and crumples the shirt in his fist. There’s a crackle of fire and then it’s gone as he moves to sit cross-legged in front of the shitty little tupperware condiment container with your blood, “And then I decide what I want from you. And we figure out how to help each other,” he swipes his pinkie through the bottom of the container, raises an eyebrow, “....Ah I think I know what you want. Partially, at least. But go ahead,”  
You sigh, you really loved that shirt, “...I want my brother’s debt gone. And… if possible, a cure? At this rate, the doctors say I don’t have long left,”

“A cure. For what? You need to be more specific, kid,” He tips the little plastic cup to his mouth and sips at it. You watch the little bit of blood make make it’s slow way to the lip of the container, slip between his lips. He makes a face and sets it aside, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

“I have ovarian cancer. Which is probably why my blood tastes like shit to you,”

“Heyy, there’s the money,” He stands up and leans against… Air. Almost like there’s some sort of wall on the inner edge of your shitty little chalk circle, “So, let’s try this again. 

Tell me exactly what you want. I’ll let you know if it’s out of my power, so unless I say something, just assume anything is possible,”

Right. Sounds easy enough. You can’t be vague with demons, the book says that a lot. You don’t know why he’s helping you there, though. It seems like it would be to his advantage for you to be awful at this and all vague, “I need to be cancer free and have all the bills paid off so my brother doesn’t have to sell himself to make ends meet,” That’s all, right? Oh, wait, “I need to stay cancer free,”

“Perfect,” he stays leaned up against that weird barrier, picking at his fingernails, “Now for what I want. I want you at my disposal. I want your blood to be mine, once I clean it up. 

And I want your soul, once you’ve finished living out the life I’m giving you,”

“You… you want my blood? What for?” You frown

“To feed on. I can tell that’s some pretty sweet shit, even under all the chemicals they’re pumping you with, and that cancer. It’s spread, you know. Into your blood. Your doctors were right. I’d say you’ve got a couple months at the most. You’re fucked, without me,”

You take a step back from the barrier, frowning deep. He’s right, you know it. Kankri has been trying to keep positive and tell you that you’re not going to die, but he’s in denial. 

Fuck, you can feel your body getting weaker every time you go to a doctor appointment “All you want is my blood and soul?”

“Quite a bit, to a mortal,” He crosses his legs, leaning his full weight against the barrier, “You’ll be my property,”  
You swallow, looking him in the eye, “Your property. Even in hell?”

“Even in hell,” He smirks, his teeth glinting

Okay. Take a breath. Assess. You’re fine with dying. You’re not fine with the way it would tear Kankri apart. He’s already going gray, for fucks sake. He took losing your dad hard, and you aren’t gonna be another burden on him. Even if you die now, he’d have to deal with the way you’re drowning in debt. He doesn’t tell you about that either, but you know he is. The choice is easy, when you think about it.

“The effects we agreed on have to happen as soon as possible. Then we have a deal,”

“Oh yeah. I can get all that in place in a week or two, tops. First though. First you’re gonna have to let me out of here,” He raps his knuckles against that invisible barrier.

You step closer, frowning and squinting at the barrier as if that would make it visible to you, “How do I do that?”

“Break the barrier. Or cross it. Handshake on the terms? Two birds, one rock. All that shit,”

Alright. This is it. No turning back after this. You’re about to make a deal with an actual, literal fucking demon. You swallow, licking your lips before crossing the barrier, standing awkwardly close to him and offering your hand. His lips quirk and he looks at it for a moment before taking it. There’s a brief shitty handshake, and then he yanks you forward, 

“Let’s get started on that illness then, shall we? I can’t wait to taste you with all that poison filtered out,”

He presses his palm to your stomach, “Damn- karkat, right?- this stuff is eating you up like a goddamn sunday buffet. I think I can take care of it though. Easy. Hang tight, hot stuff,” He snorts at himself. This guy is way to entertained by his own talking, you kind of want to hit him. That’s… probably not the best idea though. You stay silent

He keeps his hand there, and you feel his fingers tense before it starts to get hot, under his hand. Heat and pressure, pushing from under his palm and into you. It gets steadily more intense, until it starts to feel like burning. Like fire

“I-It hurts…” You hold his arm, fingers gripping his wrist hard enough that your knuckles are going white. Your whole body is trying to get away from him, but he’s got his other hand at the small of your back, holding you right where you are.

“Yeah, it’s gonna hurt, by the way,” he keeps you held steady. It feels like he’s pumping flames into your fucking ovaries, and not in some over dramatic kitschy romance novel sense. Like actual fucking fire searing you from the inside out; period cramps turned up to ten thousand and spreading through your veins. Your hands are shaking as you dig your fingers into his wrist, trying to pull him away- or hold on to him for support, you can’t tell which it is anymore. You do know that your knees are trying to buckle, “Fuck fuck FUCK!” Your voice is hoarse, it hurts so much you can’t even shout, just a desperate sort of raspy whisper that doesn’t match the fire screaming through everything- the feeling of fingers digging and scraping through your gut and tearing you apart- at all.  
Jesus he’s going to kill you. You should have known, it hurts It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts IT HURTS!!

And then… it stops. He pulls his hand away from your stomach. You almost fall when you lose that support, you have to grab him to steady yourself.

“Congratulations, you’re cured. It’s a goddamn christmas miracle. Call the papers, mysterious boy cures cancer patient on shitty downtown hovel’s roof. I’m gonna be famous,”  
If you weren’t so exhausted, you’d be pissed at how completely blasé he’s being about this. As it stands, though, you can barely.. Well, stand.

“That… that was it? I’m cured?”

“That is pretty much exactly what I said,” he gives you a flat look, “So, we’ll work on that debt, next. I have an idea of what I can do, I’ll just have to talk to a couple people. Hell, maybe that brother of yours will even get a bonus romance out of it. That’s what you really wanted, right? For him to be happy, since you’ve been making him miserable,”

That fucking stings. That hurts worse than him setting your insides on fire, you want to fucking tell him off. You’re gonna tell him off, you open your mouth to tell him to fuck right off.He cuts you off as soon as you open your mouth, though. The bastard.

“Where is your brother, anyway? I could probably set it up as early as tonight,” 

“He’s.. at work. Which means he’s probably stripping, this late at night. Or worse,” You mutter that last bit to yourself.

“Wanna watch me change his life?” Your demon grins, “This part’ll be fun. Won’t hurt, I promise,”

You tilt your head, intrigued, “Watch? How the hell do I watch?”

“Just roll with it, I’ll get it all set up,” He smirks, taking your hand

“Wait. Before we go, what am I supposed to call you?” You eye him.

“What? Oh, yeah. It’s Dave,” he laces his fingers with yours, and suddenly you aren’t anywhere.


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way too long to update. I have no excuse other than procrastination, whoops! But hey, here's another chapter, now with action™!

You have this sinking feeling, as time seems to stop existing. You hear a vague whooshing noise, thrumming through your ears that you think must be coming from your own body. There’s nothing. It’s just void. Dave’s hand on yours is the only thing you can anchor your senses with. After what feels like an eternity and an instant all at once, you suddenly are somewhere again. But not the rooftop of your apartment building, this time you’re in the shadows at the back of a disgusting alleyway. The noise of the club next door is thrumming through the wall on one side. He rolls his shoulders.

“Alright, you wait here for a sec. I gotta set this shit up, talk to my buddy in here and make sure it all works out the way we want, yeah?” He ducks into the back entrance of the club before you can answer.

You sway nervously, god what if this was all a mistake? What if he’s just lulling you into a false sense of security so he can just eat you right here? Do demons eat people? Fuck, does it matter? He left you in this dank alleyway and you’re pretty sure you can hear someone getting stabbed two streets over, he’s either leaving you to die or just taking forever in there. 

You really hope he’s just taking a while. You give into that nasty habit you grew into at age ten and start biting your nails.You want to go in after him, you want to see if he actually is coming back, you don’t feel safe here and he’s taking too long!

Maybe you should leave? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. You wrap your arms around yourself and turn to head toward the street when the door to the club opens and you freeze, glancing over your shoulder. Oh, it’s just Dave.

He’s grinning. He grabs your hand and tugs you along the back drive to the other side of the building. There’s an empty street there, a little alcove beside a dumpster and a parking lot for this neighboring restaurant across the way.

“It should be all set up. Ready to watch the magic happen?” he points to that little alcove and you see a couple people in the shadows there, upon closer inspection. One already standing, and one in the process of pushing up from their knees, spitting on the pavement on the way up and holding out a hand.

“Okay, now my money,” 

Your heart sinks. That’s Kankri’s voice, there’s no denying it. The gross-looking dude he was kneeling in front of for reasons you don’t want to think about places something in his palm, and there’s a short pause.

“Excuse me? What the fuck is this? We agreed on cash,” jesus christ…

“C’moooon, you know my stuff is good.” He lets out this short laugh, “Besides, I bet you’d suck dick better if you were all strung out and desperate.” 

What a fucking dick! You feel yourself wanting to go over there and kick this guy in the junk, but Dave is still holding your arm, “Hold on, I know he’s a prick. But we gotta let this happen,” he shushes you.

Kankri slaps the guy across the face, you can hear the satisfying smack from all the way over here, “You’re going to have that money in my hand within ten seconds, or so fucking help me,” Yes! Go Kankri, shoot that shithead down!

The guy looks at Kankri, touching where he had been slapped, “Got a little fight in ya?”

He moves fast for a bigger guy, you watch as he slaps Kankri with the back of his hand, “Think you can talk to me like that! You whore!” Another slap, taking Kan to the ground, you see the guy pull out a fucking knife, “You should be fucking grateful I even let you suck me off!” 

You jerk against Dave’s grip, “Please stop him. Please, Dave, he’s gonna fucking kill him!”

Dave keeps a firm grip on your arm though, holding you back, “Just wait. Shit gets worse before it can get better, that’s how the world works,” 

You vaguely register the sound of a door, across the parking lot, and then a shout, “HEY!” fast footsteps, and a blur of motion that takes the guy to the ground just as he was rearing his leg back for a kick.

The drunk, or you’re assuming he is a drunk, rolls back onto his feet, “Hey! You can’t touch me here. I’m takin’ care of my own business” He keeps his arms up, ready to fight.

“You’re drunk Luca, go home before I have to beat your ass again.” These two know each other? What the hell has Dave started? 

The drunk guy swings at him, but he misses by a decent margin. The short guy takes the opportunity to jab him in the stomach and step out of the way, “You can still cut your losses here, go home.”

This Luca prick isn’t having it, though. He lets out a frustrated growl and tries to tackle the other guy, who ducks out of the way easily and catches his arm, shoving him into the brick wall of the club and grinding his face into it. He jerks Luca’s arm up behind his back in a way that hurts like hell, if the noises he’s making are any indication, holding him there for a second before yanking him back and literally kicking his ass, planting his heel and shoving to send drunky Mcgee toppling onto his face.

“Get the fuck outta here, I’m serious,”

Luca stumbles away, “ ‘m fucking warning you. You’re not supposed to touch me here, its neutral! Fuckin’ Ampora scum..” 

Regardless of that little outburst, he keeps walking, rubbing the arm that had been wrenched behind him as he goes. You don’t know if that guy was just rambling about random things or if by neutral he meant that this area wasn’t under one of the head honchos. Fuck, what are their names? Ampora and…was it Mackerel? Fuck you can’t remember, but it’s the reason Kankri doesn’t want you wandering around at night.

Dave pulls you out of your thoughts with a little laugh, “Boom, moneyshot. God it’s great to see those guys get taken down a peg,” he loosens his grip on your arm, now that you aren’t fighting to get away from him, “So, meet your new sugar daddy. Or, Kankri’s new sugar daddy, to be more specific. You’re welcome. I’m awesome, I know. That was hella fast, and I am a miracle worker,” 

“...You hooked my brother up with a fucking sugar daddy?” You raise your eyebrow, looking back to where he’s helping Kankri to his feet. 

“Shit, you ok? He really did a number on ya.” Well, he certainly is much kinder with Kankri than with that Luca fucker.

“The term is just a technicality,” Dave nudges you, “Lighten up, he’ll be hopelessly in love,” He doesn’t specify which one of them, “Give it a week,”

The guy is brushing Kankri’s hair out of his face, looking his face over before helping him back into the club, talking to him softly as Kankri nods.

“Maybe less,” Dave smirks

You guess there are worse things he could have done to make this better, but.. Maybe this will make Kankri happier? You don’t remember him ever having a boyfriend, at all. “Well, thank you. Is it appropriate to thank the demon you sold your soul to? Is it actually necessary or just like a formality to make you feel accomplished?”

“I feel hella accomplished,” He chuckles, “Why don’t we get you back home before Kankri, huh? You could  probably use a rest after tonight, and I’ve got all the time in the world with you, I’m in no hurry to start taking my payment,” His teeth look a lot more intimidating as he flashes you a grin, taking your hand again.

You hate how traveling in that weird teleporting  way makes you feel. It feels like you left your stomach behind when you’re back on the roof of your apartment. Your knees wobble a little, but you’re able to right yourself. “So… do I invite you in? Should we exchange contact information? There aren’t exactly handbooks on this.”

“Yeah there are,” He laughs a little, “They’re basically useless, though. If it makes you feel better we can exchange numbers, but you’re mine. Wherever you are, I can be. There’s no invitations or technicalities and barriers for me to work around anymore. You’re basically my property, by the law of my kind,” He hums, “Why don’t you get some sleep, for now. We can talk more about this later, yeah? I gotta go see a dude about a favor he owes me, I’ll be back later,” 

He doesn’t wait for your answer again, just vanishes. You’re left standing in the doorway of your apartment alone. A little dazed, and a lot worried about what you’ve signed yourself up for.


End file.
